Friday, March 4, 2016

Time to pay the piper: February Wallet Watch Report

Back at the end of January I committed to watching my wallet. My rules were:

1. Wallet watch lasts from February 1 - February 29
2. Do not purchase any shoes, apparel, accessories, or home goods.
3. No Amazon shopping.
4. Mind the food and household spending - use the food in the freezers and pantry.
5. No purchasing beauty products or makeup unless something runs out and there is not a feasible substitute.
6. Approved spends: hair cut and color, tip for my massage (set aside in January), weekend away February 12-14, M-F Dunkin Donuts coffee
7. I must track spending and share how I did on Friday, March 4.

So here I am sharing on March 4. Time to pay the piper.

Necessary Spend: February 3
Purchased: Whirlpool side by side refrigerator water filter 
Amount: $45.20
With: debit - house account
Note:  In a cruel twist of fate, the yellow filter light came on on February 2. I was going to re-order from Amazon (which would have broken the rule), but it was $20 more than on Filters Fast so I ordered from there and donated $1 to a clean water fund. 

Date of infraction: February 4
Purchase: A fucking mug
Amount: $7.99
Note: Of all things, a fucking mug. Like hello not a necessity especially for me, queen of mugs. I had been hawking a specific mug for the shore house. I got a message that it was back in stock on zulily for $7.99, which was 50% off the price on Amazon. I jumped on it. I had a free shipping credit so that softened the blow, otherwise the price would have been the same. 

Date of infraction: February 5
Purchase: A bagel
Amount: $2.19
Note: I brought a breakfast sandwich that I found on the back of a shelf in the freezer. That was so freezer burned it was inedible. So I tried, but sort of unavoidable food expense. 

Report: Weekend away February 12-14 in New Orleans
This was an approved spending weekend, but I still wanted to keep spending $$ outside of dinners to $300. I came in at $368.41. I blame the tie dye muumuu. 

Date of infraction: February 19
Purchase: Eyeglass repair kit
Amount: $6.49
Note: Yes, of course I needed it. But it was purchased from Amazon so it was a violation.

Fuck this wallet watch moment: February 19
What kind of butthole doesn't allow for their own pedicure when they h - a - t - e doing self-pedicures? This kind of butthole. 

Necessary Spend/Gold Star Day: February 24
MFD needed to replace his wireless headphones (Mae ate his...for real) and the best price was on Amazon. This is neither here nor there, because it was coming out of his spending money and not mine. I ordered them for him so they could be same day delivery prime-style and resisted ordering anything else aside from foot wash for stank feet that was a necessity. Trust me. I avoided the shoes and books on my wish list like a saint-style person. 

Date of infraction: February 27
Purchase: Three candles, small coffee sign for shore
Amount: $21.01
Note: I should have put a caveat on my home buying restriction, because I am still stocking and decorating the shore house, and that has to be mostly finished this month. But alas I did not, so WHAMMY. Also, the candles were for the Owner's unit so DOUBLE WHAMMY.

Date of infraction: Various
Purchase: Zumba classes
Amount: $18
Note: Was it in the budget? No. But I think it was a good spend for health and wellness. 

Returns from things purchased before South Africa trip:
Sun hat from Amazon - $10.46
Bathing suit from Amazon - $23.99
Bose Charger from Amazon - $29.99 (wrong one)
Skirt and tee from JJill - $57

Groceries:
I did not do a large grocery shopping this month, choosing to work through the freezers and pantry and supplement where necessary with dairy, produce, and chicken or pork. This required more in person errand running and less online grocery ordering, which I hate. I ended up at Target twice for a combo of household stuff and groceries. I didn't buy anything extra. Booyah. I'm still working on clearing out the fridges and pantries and refraining from unrestrained grocery shopping. 

Beauty Products:
I ran out of my Posh day face cream but had a little travel tub of it I had made for Africa, so I am using that up and placed another order on March 1. 

Massage Tip: 
Never used it. 

Did you watch your wallet in February? How did you do?




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32 comments:

  1. Laughing at the pedicure comment...well I'd say it wasn't all bad lol and I hope you're enjoying your new mug! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  2. hahaha, I love the "date of infraction" and your butthole comment. Looks like you did pretty well overall, despite a few infractions :)

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  3. Yeahhhh I'm going to need a photo shoot in the tiedye mumu with the pigs to forgive these infractions. ;)

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  4. Hey at least the mug wasn't crazy expensive! You did great overall!

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  5. OMG your "fuck this wallet watch" moment HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that made me laugh so hard. but that mug. i nearly caved and bought a mug that was $5 but i don't need another mug (no room either) but still...it was hard to walk away from that because a $5 mug is practically free.

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  6. You can add MFD to your Prime account so he has his own log-in, etc. if ever needed to avoid temptation. Anytime I buy something on Amazon, I take a look around. I figure I'm helping the environment. I mean if they are going to send a huge box anyway, might as well put more stuff in it! Hope you have a pedicure scheduled for this weekend!

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  7. LOL at the mug! Sounds like it was worth it with the free shipping & 50% off! Also, so impressed with your Target trips without adding any extra things into your basket before you left!

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  8. I'd say you did pretty good! I laughed pretty hard at the mug splurge and also the bagel, because freezer burned food makes me sad.

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  9. I think you did a good job, even if you ordered another mug. Mugs are necessary you need them for coffee, all of them not just one! :)

    I can see weird wallet watch links from 2014 at the bottom of your post after your current links.

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  10. Not too bad! One of these days I'll be so good I'll ace the challenge. Cracked over the pedicure comment - also, totally agree!

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  11. I so have to laugh of all the Amazon purchases. I think you just need to take that rule away :) Amazon is ALWAYS the go-to place.
    & your pedicure comment... I so laughed out loud on that one.

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  12. Love that the water filter company makes a clean water donation. Good job. I am doing the pantry - freezer clean out. My weakness is the damn Easter candy, especially since it's only out once a year. Jmj.
    Love. Your. Momma.

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  13. honestly, i'm really impressed how detail you get! I think that would be my downfall. oj a stick of gum? i won't count that... this is probably why my diets don't work that well either.

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  14. It's very rare for me to not succumb to temptation when doing an Amazon shop so I'm impressed with your resolve! My wallet watch had mixed results, I must say. Turns out I don't much like boundaries.

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  15. I love how your downfall was a coffee mug, ha. Granted, I've never seen your stash of them but I'm under the impression that you do have a lot! At least it's something you love? Good job on tracking all of this. This is a very organized list!

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  16. I love you you break down your spending infractions. Also, I like your choice of the word infraction. It amuses me for some reason.

    Zumba classes and pedicures are definitely justifiable expenditures. I'm actually contemplating putting a line item back in my budget for once a week classes.

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  17. LOL at the mug! And I love how you said "date of infraction". You did awesome, I totally would have caved on more frivolous things :-P

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  18. i think the tie dye muumuu is a necessity. haha. i laughed at 'a fucking mug'.
    also, i have had to replace my crappy $10 headphones like 20 times because my cats dig them out of my gym bag and chew on them. wtf?! if i keep them in my car, i forget about them.
    i think you did pretty good! enjoy birthday month, and maybe you can do another one in april because i need to do another one as well and misery loves company?!

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  19. I think I gave up on the wallet watch around the 5th of February. I could not wait until March for clothes purchases. I'm so weak.

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  20. A fucking mug... lol. I have these moments all the time and it is usually over a bag. I have a thousand ranging from cute $1 shopping bags that lure me in at the checkout line to designer handbags. I just posted another one today that I am dying over. Ugh. You did pretty good though!!

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  21. You did well even with some infractions and things you didn't account for like the pedicure plus those returns help balance it out a bit. Hope you have a nice weekend!

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  22. LMAO "a fucking mug." I totally forgot to write a post but then figured that was better anyway because I followed all my rules and figured that's boring as hell to read about, especially because I only passed because my employment status has me terrified to spend.

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  23. LOL I am notorious for buying mugs too.. oy. I am about to try zumba (at home) for the first time. Super jazzed. Budgeting is so hard, but it's good to have goals. I think they keep us closer to on track even when we overspend or fail! NOLA IS MY FAVE! You're going to South Africa?!?! AWESOME! XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  24. I watched my wallet self-destruct. Pet issues, not optional.

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  25. Not buying extras while at Target is the biggest win ever and basically wipes out your infractions. Haha!

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  26. I watched my wallet alright, i watched it open and close with alarming frequency. Seriously im like a two year having a permanent temper tantrum when it comes to saving money. I need someone to come around and slap purchases out of my hand, sigh.

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  27. I watched my wallet alright, i watched it open and close with alarming frequency. Seriously im like a two year having a permanent temper tantrum when it comes to saving money. I need someone to come around and slap purchases out of my hand, sigh.

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  28. It sounds like you had a few things that you had to get during your wallet watch, but I think that the trip to New Orleans shouldn't be included on the list. It's vacation so it shouldn't count!

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  29. I admire the way you set aside the money/itemized list before the month even starts. That would stress me out.
    I think you did really well!

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  30. I can't resist a new mug either. I swear I could get a massage weekly if it wasn't so expensive. A pedicure is like a necessity, right? Well if not it should be!

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  31. I'm impressed! You did awesome . . . and stuck with it. Time to treat yourself to a pedi! And get that massage!

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  32. I'm so late on commenting, been crazy busy. But yay wallet watch! You held on strong in a lot of cases, go you. LOL so hard at 'fucking mug'

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